


The Badlands

by Ria84



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: All Goldblum bits have been included, Ben is Ian Malcolm, Chaos Theory for dummies, Devoted Kylo Ren, Devoted Reylo, Dinosaur kills man, Drunk Sex, F/M, Jeff Goldblum sass, Jurrasic Park AU, Luke is John Hammond, No Love Triangle, One Night Stands, Oral Sex, Poe has temper tantrums, Rey and Poe are paleontologists, Rose is Ray Arnold, Smut, Smutty Flashbacks, Vaginal Sex, alternating pov, and very thirsty, at inapropriate times, flash backs, for science, it's not really about the dinos, project JEDI, the author knows less than nothing about dinos, the leather jacket and bare chest scene too, the smut is here, turns out Rey is kind of sneaky, we start at the end, woman inherits the Earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2020-09-28 01:37:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20417750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ria84/pseuds/Ria84
Summary: Doctor Rey Kanata and Doctor Poe Dameron are whisked away by Luke Skywalker to serve as subject matter experts for the re-instating of the infamous JEDI project. They're joined by Doctor Ben Solo who is an outspoken critic of his uncle's research and general existence. Unknown to everyone is that Rey and Ben have met before.Things go terribly awry during their visit to Ahch-To island and the story starts as all chaos erupts around the cluster of scientists. During brief moments of reprieve, they take turns reminiscing on how they arrived at their current situations.***This is not a re-telling of Jurassic Park, but elements of the movie/books have been included - basically all of Jeff Goldblum's epic speeches***





	1. How Did We Get Here?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElleRen31](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElleRen31/gifts).
**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How did the gang get here? My, that Doctor Solo sure looks familiar!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how she finds the time, but thank you [RebelRebel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRebel/pseuds/RebelRebel) for beta'ing this chapter :)  
*Elle! you gave me 4 seriously bad ass prompts! I had such a hard time picking but the Jurassic Park one served as a fabulous challenge! I hope you don't mind I adjusted your prompt to my selfish need of writing Ben Solo in Jeff Goldblum's sassy pants***

Her lungs burned almost as much as her muscles.

Her heart drummed an urgent beat as her body begged for a break. Panic threatened to overwhelm her while the adrenaline quickly burned out of her system.

The fear she felt — for her life, for her friends’ lives, and for _his _wellbeing — was paralyzing. She could not let it take over.

_“_ **Rey** _!”_

Ben’s voice echoed inside the facility. A spark of lucidity hit her. The sound bounced off ruined walls in a way that made it impossible to tell where he was. But he was alive and that propelled her into action.

All around them — chaos. The vestibule built to welcome crowds of thousands to the new wildlife park couldn’t contain the six of them.

In all fairness, two of the occupants were Raptors.

“Two full-grown, vicious as fuck, real as rain Velociraptors hell-bent on obliterating us,” Rey whispered out loud, chuckling to herself. An unnatural sound, a borderline crazy chortle in the face of desperation. Humour was her first line of defence when facing a challenge and the past twenty-four hours had been nothing short of insane.

Less than a day had passed since her life had changed entirely and yet Rey found it impossible to answer the question that had been plaguing her every thought: _how did we get here? _

The irony of a paleontologist asking rhetorical questions with an existentialist tint wasn’t entirely lost on Doctor Rey Kanata.

She crawled on her belly, carefully making her way to the temporary shelter of the oversized desk in the reception area. When she’d made a smart-ass quip over its unnecessarily large size — something along the lines of furniture also being scaled — she could have never imagined her life could be extended by the offending piece of furniture.

Across from her, Poe was huddled inside a vertical filing cabinet, his body protectively wrapped around Bebe’s shivering form.

Less than a day had passed since Rey and Doctor Poe Dameron had a very serious conversation about his unwillingness to parent children. The aftershocks of awkwardness ensuing from the ground-shaking fight he and Finn had still rippled through their archeological site when Rey and Poe had left on Luke Skywalker’s helicopter.

Poe returned her smile with a pained grimace, unable to keep his panic at bay any longer. He cradled the little nine-year-old, carding his fingers through sweat-matted ginger curls, providing as much comfort as possible.

_Three accounted for. One more to go._

Rey’s front teeth bit into her lip to avoid making a sound. She wanted to scream his name, to run to him and drag him to safety. But for now, they had to stay put because it was eerily quiet and that only meant one thing.

They were being hunted.

She closed her eyes, indulging herself with a brief reprieve to catch her breath.

_Twenty four hours and my entire life is upside down and irrecoverably fucked._

If she had to do it all over again, if she was allowed to take a mulligan on her choices, knowing everything she knew now, would she have chosen differently?

——

_24 hours earlier _

Rey and Poe -—_Doctor_ _Flyboy_ as he was known to all his graduate students due to his specialization in aviary dinosaur species — were in the process of completing the excavation of the latest Archaeopteryx fossil they had uncovered in the Canadian Badlands.

The _Skywalker Enterprises _helicopter hovered above their dig site, carelessly covering dozens of hours of work with dust and debris. In hindsight, Rey would find their entry strangely on-point — their lifelong dedication to studying extinct species classified as officially superfluous once the species was actively hunting them.

Luke Skywalker sauntered about their little makeshift office with the arrogance becoming of a man of his status — billionaire heir to the Skywalker-Amidala fortune, tenured paleo-botany professor at Yale University and celebrated author and researcher in their professional field.

“To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit, Doctor Skywalker?” Poe asked, making no effort to hide his annoyance for the grand entry.

“Call me Luke. Please.” He poured himself a glass of water and sat down on their modest couch that also served as Rey’s bedroom. He crossed his ankle over a knee, leaning back and watching them with a Cheshire Cat smile. “I have _incredible _news.”

Poe lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples — he’d had _a day. _Luke’s loud and disruptive presence was the last thing he needed.

Rey, on the other hand, was thrilled. She’d been a fan of his work her entire life — or at least since she’d decided to become a paleo-botanist at the age of nine.

“I am reinstating the JEDI program.” Luke started with a calm voice, but Rey saw the worry in his blue eyes.

“With all due respect, Doctor Skywalker– ”

“Luke– ”

“With all due respect, _Luke _— are you out of your fucking mind?” Poe raised his voice, his still burning cigarette forgotten between his fingers.

“I can assure you, I am not. Although you are not the first to ask me.”

“Do you have early on-set dementia or some other condition that causes memory loss?”

Luke laughed. “No. Trust me, of all people I am _well _aware of the sordid history my family has had with the JEDI program.”

“Sordid? Luke, people _died_. Your father tried to play God and people paid for it with their lives. I hate to break this to you, but you cannot replicate dinosaurs.” Poe was practically foaming at the mouth. But Rey felt the tingle of excitement surge through her body.

“What’s your plan, Doctor Skywalker? What protocol are you planning on following? What’s your methodology? Have you had any successful samples– ”

“Breathe, Doctor Kanata. I will answer all your questions on our tour of the island.”

“Tour? What tour?” Poe interrupted before Rey had a chance to answer.

“The tour of Ahch-To island of course!”

Poe stood at his full height, looming over Luke in an attempt to accentuate his disapproval. “You _are _insane.”

“I had a feeling you’d react that way. But honestly, we have taken all the necessary safety precautions. We hired the First Order to handle IT and security. Please believe me, you have nothing to worry about. I wanted you and Doctor Kanata to join us for the trial tour. Our lawyers and insurance underwriters absolutely _insist _on having outside subject matter expert testimony before they give us the go-ahead.”

“_Trial_ tour?”

“You mean to say you already have _specimens?”_

Rey and Poe shouted at the same time, both equally shocked.

Luke’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “Now that I have your attention, what do you say? The chopper’s standing by to get us there.”

———————

Rey had only read about Ahch-To island. _Obsessed _more like, over the idea of Jurassic flora and fauna revived in a natural environment. All throughout her academic career she had secretly pined over possible improvements she could have done to JEDI to avoid the utter catastrophe that ensured.

The concept of injecting various species of dinosaur DNA into elephants, tigers, and other current era wildlife had been widely criticized as irresponsible. _Absurd. _Slowly turning into something of a punchline amongst academia.

But not to Rey. She spent hundreds of hours desperately pouring over first account witness records, the scientific records and incident reports.

She wanted to fix it. Because that’s what she always did — she fixed things.

Her eyes landed on Poe, who looked nervous. Thousands of miles separated him from Canada where he’d left Finn — and the wide-open can of worms pertaining to their potential and very much non-existent offspring — back at the dig site.

Maybe he was worried. Maybe she should’ve been too.

“Ready?” Luke’s words startled her. They had landed, and somehow Rey had been too distracted to notice.

“Kind of a loaded question. Sure, let’s get this dog and pony show on the road.” Poe scoffed, although his snideness seemed to bounce right off Luke. The older man was positively beaming.

“In about ten minutes I’ll be ready to accept your apology, Poe.”

“Doctor Dameron.” Her colleague muttered, leaving the tight confines of the helicopter.

Luke chuckled, entirely unphased by Poe’s prickliness.

A Jeep was waiting for them, ready to take them to their accommodations.

A very excited red-headed little boy rushed into Luke’s waiting hug. “You’re back!” He squealed as he leaped into the older man’s arms.

Poe’s expression visibly darkened. Rey closed the distance between, patting him on the back as she spoke out of Luke’s earshot. “Someday you’ll have to tell me what exactly it is that you have against kids.”

He faced her with a scowl. “They are loud, they are expensive, messy, and they smell!”

“Kids do not smell!” Rey answered, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Some kids smell. Babies for sure! I bet that one does too.” He nodded his head toward Luke and his charge.

Rey chuckled, feeling unusually light-hearted.

And then she caught sight of him.

Clad in all black, donning a leather jacket that looked like it was made for his impossibly wide frame, with perfectly tousled hair framing his unfairly handsome face.

_Doctor Ben Solo._

His expression teetered between surprise and something else. An emotion she couldn’t quite identify as anything more than _dark._

_Lust._

Or maybe that’s what she was feeling rapidly coursing through her veins as images of him brushing those same curls out of his eyes, drenched with sweat as he hovered above her. The feel of his plush lips devouring her as he fucked her towards the edge of sanity.

Rey shook her head in a feeble attempt to refocus her attention on the already surreal experience she was having. And somehow — because the universe was cruel and she’d obviously earned herself a batch of bad karma — her one and only one-night stand stood not even two feet away. Smirking.

_If the ground could open up right now that would be great! _

“Doctor Kanata. Doctor Dameron. I’d like to introduce you to the other members of our little group. This brilliant young man is one of my sister’s advanced computer science students. He’s an actual genius and something of a paleontology enthusiast. As a matter of fact, he is a big fan of yours, Doctor Dameron.”

The child practically leaped with excitement, walking circles around Poe who was groaning with discomfort. “I have so many questions for you Doctor Dameron. Poe! Can I call you Poe? My name is Bebe. I’m going to call you Poe.

C’mon let’s do it!” The little hand crowded Poe’s as he tugged him away.

“Do you know where they keep the battery pack for this thing?” Poe snarked as he very reluctantly followed BeBe.

Luke beamed. “I knew they would be fast friends. This here is our last companion. Doctor Ben Solo.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Doctor Solo.”

He smiled, clutching her hand, his eyes intense, like pools of inky darkness burrowing into her. “The pleasure is all mine, Rey.” He purred her name and she felt her knees buckle under the weight of everything left unsaid.

Luke ushered him into the oversized dining hall framed by floor-to-ceiling glass windows. It was obvious that Doctor Skywalker had spared no expense in the construction process, the tempered glass wall affording them a full view of the Park.

Unfortunately, it was all lost on Rey, who was shifting in her chair uncomfortably, trying desperately to avoid Ben’s piercing gaze from across the table.

“So you two dig up dinosaurs or something?” he asked snidely.

“Trying to,” Poe answered with equally dry disdain.

Luke cleared his throat. “You’ll have to excuse Doctor Solo, he’s a brilliant mathematician but suffers from undiagnosed personality disorders.”

Ben worried his lip, his smile faltering for a brief moment. “First off — I hear those are genetic, _Uncle _Luke. Second of all, I’m a Chaos-tician.”

Luke swallowed his drink, attempting to maintain an air of civility. “Ben has never been able to explain his issues with the park in a way we could all understand. So he always summons his vague mathematical theories to support his disdain. Go ahead and enlighten us, dear nephew.”

Ben carded his hands through his locks in an obvious attempt to calm himself down. “Doctor Dameron, Doctor Kanata— are you familiar with Chaos Theory?”

“No,” Poe answered for both of them.

Ben’s brows met his hairline “Really? Doctor Rey, I’m surprised you’re not familiar with the concept of attraction.” He held her gaze with an intensity that singed her to the core.

“Unfortunately, all my academic life has revolved around dinosaurs. You’ll have to explain your theories in more explicit terms.” She answered, unable to look away from the untouched food on her plate.

“I can be as explicit as you like, Rey.” He winked and finished his lunch.

Ben was flirting. It was outrageously obvious and yet no one seemed to notice.

And then she realized — _of course _— he was screwing with her. Purposely trying to make her uncomfortable. But Rey was not about to give in to his childish games. She would just have to suck it up and ignore him for the rest of their time on the island and hope she would not have to see him again.

——

“That’ll do for now Ben, stop trying to scare everyone away with your nonsense. We’re here, anyways!” Luke turned in his seat to face them.

They had all agreed that a tour of the property would be more effective during the daytime and so, they all packed into one teeny-tiny Jeep. Or maybe the Jeep was regulation-sized, but Ben Solo took up all of the available room.

Under the cover of the jungle canopy, ten thousand volts of power ran through the steel walls meant to keep them at a safe distance from whatever it was they were about to see.

Rey marveled at the greenery around them, astounded that she’d been able to identify at least four types of flora previously classified as extinct. She was so enthralled by her ongoing exploration that she didn’t notice what the other occupants of the Jeep were doing.

Poe was standing on his seat, inside the Jeep, his head out of the window, gawking.

In the front seat, Ben’s mouth hung open as he focused his gaze in the same direction as Poe. Instantly, Rey turned.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her stomach clenched in shock, allowing her brain to scramble and attempt to make sense of what she was seeing. Rey felt strangely relieved that the odds that a stroke was to blame for what she was seeing were significantly larger than the likeliness of what stood in front of her.

“It’s a dinosaur,” Poe crooned.

“He did it. That crazy son of a bitch made it.” Ben covered his mouth with a hand, clearly as affected as the rest of them.

Luke grinned as he faced them from the driver’s seat, grinning victoriously from ear to ear. “It’s a brachiosaurus.”

“I know — I mean I _know_ but I just don’t know!” Poe babbled. He hadn’t blinked in about five minutes and Rey was beginning to worry.

“How fast are they?” She asked as Poe, Bebe and Ben continued to stare.

“We clocked the T-Rex at thirty-two miles an hour,” Luke stated, his tone of voice entirely too calm in Rey’s opinion.

“T-Rex? You have a Tyrannosaurus Rex?” Poe leaped out of the vehicle, his arms flailing violently.

“Poe! Put your head between your knees.” Rey patted him on the back, a poor attempt at calming him down.

“Welcome to the Jurassic Education and Dinosaur Intelligence project.”

For the second time in as many hours, Rey found herself hyperventilating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do we think? too goofy? confusing? not enough Ben? Next chapter is his POV!


	2. Agents of Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben’s POV. As expected, things go side ways in a hurry!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta’d by the amazing RebelRebel 🖤🖤🖤🖤 
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading!!! Just a few things!  
I know nothing about about dinosaurs or palaeontology or the scientific community as a whole. If possible, I know even less about Chaos Theory. If you see any glaring mistakes please let me know!!  
*Ian Malcolm’s dialogue is nearly verbatim from the movie, it was too good to not include**

For what felt like the millionth time, Ben Solo tried to pinpoint when and where he had lost his mind. 

  
  


He knew exactly why his smarmy uncle had buttered him up to come to the abomination that was Ahch-To island — he wanted to gloat. Luke wanted to show the world and, most importantly, the most outspoken critic of the JEDI project, just how wrong they had been. 

  
  


_ Idiot. _

  
  


Ben initially refused. He spent his entire adult life trying to make his own path in the world of academia, wholly separated from the  _ Skywalker _ name and the burden that came with it. 

  
  


And then, his mother had told him that Bebe would also be joining Luke and his guests. Ben didn’t normally care what his mother’s prodigies were up to. It had taken him years of therapy to just  _ be okay  _ with his mother devoting herself to the gifted orphans in a way she never had with him — still a work in progress if he was being honest with himself. 

  
  


However, Leia had inadvertently provided him with a crucial piece of information that served as a turning point for his decision. 

  
  


On Luke’s list of subject matter experts, a name stuck out and gave Ben pause.

  
  


_ Doctor Rey Kanata. _

  
  


He had to see her again. Maybe talk to her. Confess how he’d been obsessively trying to find her for the past six months and then convince her he wasn’t unhinged for doing so.

  
  


And now, trapped under a mountain of poorly constructed gift shop shelves with a broken clavicle and most likely a concussion, Ben was still certain that he made the right decision coming to Ach-To.

  
  


——

**_24_** **_hours_** **_earlier_**

  
  


“How did you do this?” Doctor Dameron asked, incensed. Ben was equally curious but Rey’s presence distracted him. Her lack of reaction to his presence was perplexing. Her indifference annoyed him, actually. Was there really a chance she didn’t remember him? 

  
  


No.

  
  


She was  _ pretending _ . 

  
  


He was determined to crack that shell she was hiding in. There was no way he hadn’t made an impression.

  
  
  


“I’ll show you.” Luke’s smugness was almost unbearable.

  
  


They were ushered into a room containing several rows of theatre seats, bolted down to a mechanical device — a ride, clearly. Ben could feel the bile building up in his throat, an ugly side effect of too much time spent with his uncle. He’d always resented the way his uncle capitalized on his grandfather’s genius. Ben came to Ahch-To to out Luke as a fraud and a charlatan. 

  
  
  


And to see Rey Kanata. 

  
  
  


“This isn’t just rides, this is living attractions and education. Conservation and entertainment all in one.” Luke stated, the foul grin still displayed on his face. 

  
  
  


_ And profit. Lots and lots of profit for Doctor Luke Skywalker. _

  
  
  


Luke held up a finger to his lips, begging for silence. Ben sat next to Rey, flanking her and Doctor Dameron. 

  
  
  


_ What’s the deal with that?  _ He carefully examined the body language between two scientists, looking for clues — confirmation, really — that they were  _ not  _ together.

  
  
  


Ben was fretting. What if he came on this horrendous trip, flew almost eight hours next to a very annoying,  _ very  _ flatulent nine-year-old, only to find out the girl who’s absence had been driving him bat-shit crazy was totally out of his reach?

  
  
  


The lights lowered and a video began playing. Luke himself was the star. Ben could not give less of a fuck at this point because he was drunk on Rey. Sitting this close to her was intoxicating. She smelled like sea salt and citrus and she made his mouth water. 

  
  
  


_ You’re sniffing her. She hasn’t acknowledged you and but here you are, upping your straight psycho game. _

  
  
  


“I don’t understand how they did it.” Her voice chimed, spurring him into action.

  
  
  


“They used the same method my grandfather used to find the DNA.” Ben leaned into the conversation, doing what he did best — getting under Luke’s overly sensitive skin.

  
  


“Preserved in amber, right. But how did they get from that to the bloody full-grown species we just saw?” Dameron seemed on the brink of losing his cool. Ben kind of liked him already, in spite of his fears.

  
  


“If you could be so kind, this will answer all your questions.” Luke gestured towards the screen, where an animated version of himself spoke.

  
  


“A full DNA steak contains 3 billion genetic strains. Geneticist and gene sequences break down the strain in minutes and they note gaps. We used the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the holes and complete the sequence.”

  
  


Ben rolled his eyes. Somehow cartoon Luke was even more vexing than the real life version.

  
  


“This is the lab.” Their clunky ride passed by an oversized window that gave them a peek at where scientists appeared to be busying themselves in a flurry of  _ scientific activity.  _ For all Ben knew, they were actors doing nothing.

  
  


“We need to see it! We are fucking scientists,” Dameron voiced his displeasure. 

  
  


_ When in Rome! _

  
  


“C’mon!” Ben stood and jumped off the two and a half-inch platform, followed by Poe, Rey, and Bebe.

  
  


He could  _ feel _ his uncle’s fury. It was delightful.

  
  


Rey and Poe made themselves at home inside the lab, snooping through every workstation and interrogating the scientists. They both talked at the same time and weren’t wearing protective equipment, effectively causing a total halt in the activity.

  
  


_ Agents of chaos. _

  
  


Their little group congregated around an incubator. Ben was beyond curious at this point. They  _ did  _ just see a full grown dinosaur and even though the cynic in him had many doubts, he let himself get carried away with wonder. “Are we actually witnessing a dinosaur egg hatch?” 

  
  


His question didn’t need an answer; the ostrich egg cracked and after a few seconds, the shell gave way to a tiny, incredible — albeit gross — baby dinosaur. 

  
  


_ Incredible. _

  
  


“You’re sure they can’t breed in the wild?” Rey asked while Dameron removed eggshell debris from the newly hatched dino.

  
  


“Absolutely.” 

  
  


“How do you know that?” She seemed unconvinced. It  _ did _ sound like a dubious proposition.

  
  


“All the animals in the JEDI project are female.”

  
  


Ben could not remain quiet. “How  _ do _ you know that? How can you possibly be so certain they’re all female? Does someone go around the park looking up their skirts?”

  
  


Luke scowled. Rey smirked. 

  
  


“We control their chromosomes. The rest is really not that difficult; just a matter of administering the right dose of hormones at the right time.”

  
  


Luke’s overconfidence infuriated Ben. The scientist inside him wanted to shout, and Ben let it.

  
  


“Your kind of control is not possible. If there is one thing that the history of evolution has taught us is that life cannot be contained. It breaks free and expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers, even painfully, sometimes dangerously but — there it is.”

  
  


Luke’s face was red; his icy blue eyes burrowed through him but his tone was calm. “You’re implying that a group made up entirely of females will  _ breed?” _

  
  
  


“No. Not necessarily. I’m simply saying that life finds a way.” 

  
  


His uncle scoffed, but his retort was interrupted by Dameron, who was now gently cradling the slimy genetically ambiguous creature recently hatched.

  
  


“What species is this?”

  
  


“It’s a velociraptor.”

  
  


A look of utter terror clouded both paleontologists.“You bred raptors.” Dameron was hypnotized, his fingers gently caressing the animal, pausing over its delicate little windpipe. Was Poe considering crushing it? The devious and pragmatic parts of Ben’s personality hoped he would. 

  
  


This wasn’t right. None of this was right. His uncle was a madman with the key to life at his disposal. It was just a matter of time before something went terribly awry. Ben felt it in his bones.

—-

  
  


“What the fuck are they doing?” Poe screeched through clenched teeth. Ben was sure that if he looked close enough, he would see the steam billowing out of Doctor Dameron‘s ears.

  
  


Luke answered, once again turning to face them, smugness dripping from every syllable. “Feeding them.”

  
  


Horror show. 

  
  


That was the only possible description of what they’d just witnessed. The park staff lowered a fully grown cow into the velociraptor enclosure — if the triple reinforced oversized shipping container could be referred to as an  _ enclosure.  _

  
  
  


The sheer look of terror in those poor, docile bovine eyes as the animal was slowly lowered to its death would more than likely be imprinted on Ben’s mind for posterity.

  
  


The metal containment shook, rattled and screeched as the carnivores inside feasted. 

  
  


“They should all be destroyed.” An authoritative woman’s voice mercifully interrupted. 

  
  


Ben turned to see an exceptionally tall —  _ statuesque _ if it weren’t for the head-to-toe camouflage — blonde woman. Her features were contorted in a deep scowl, her icy blue eyes keen on the raptor paddock. 

  
  


“Ah! This is Phasma Muldoon. She’s a bit of an alarmist but knows more about raptors than anyone I know.” His uncle slipped his hand through the crook of Phasma’s elbow and Ben imagined that the Amazon could crush him with ease were she so inclined.

  
  


She only glared at Luke before addressing their little group. “They’re extremely intelligent. They’re exceptional problem solvers and they’re jumpers! We  _ have _ to feed them like this because they were attacking the fences. Testing them for weakness. They remember.”

  
  


Ben dry swallowed. Phasma was right — they needed to be destroyed before they learned where they stood in the food chain.

  
  
  


After the “highlight” of their tour, Luke shuttled them back to the main compound for dinner. Not surprising, appetites were lacking. All diners picked at their meals, with the exception of Rey. The woman ate her entire steak, sides, salad and was working on Dameron’s platter. 

  
  


_ Insatiable! _

  
  


Ben couldn’t take his eyes off her. It did occur to him he was leering at her, but he couldn’t stop himself. Her messy wind tousled hair framed her sweet face so perfectly, showcasing her soft feline eyes and lush pink lips. His mind drifted to the night they spent together and the things she could do with her mouth — the things she’d done to  _ him  _ with that mouth. 

  
  


He felt himself harden, a most inappropriate but visceral reaction to Rey’s presence.

  
  


Luke wiped his mouth, throwing the linen napkin unceremoniously on his plate, the universal indication he was done with his meal. “So. Now that you’ve seen everything — well not the T-Rex but she marches to her own beat — what do you think?” He sat, smirking. Waiting on accolades like the conquering hero he saw himself as and Ben could not hold his tongue any longer.

  
  
  


“The lack of humility before nature displayed here astounds me.” He spat, his fork hitting his plate a little too loudly.

  
  
  


“Oh dear nephew, do you have some concerns you want to share? What a surprise.” Luke scoffed.

  
  


“Don’t you see the inherent danger? Genetic manipulation is an awesome power, and you wield it like a kid who’s found a lightsaber. It didn’t require any discipline to get — you read what others had done, and you took the next step. You didn't  _ earn _ the knowledge for yourself so you didn’t  _ pay _ the price for it. Or know the price for that matter.”

  
  


The vein in Luke’s forehead throbbed, his face red with annoyance.

  
  


“You stepped on the shoulders of geniuses to get to get to your goal as fast as you could. And that goal is profit. Sell it, package it, patent it. The JEDI project — Luke Skywalker’s golden goose.”

  
  


“You’re not giving us our due credit! Our scientists have done something no one else has done before.” His uncle heaved, foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.

  
  


Ben stood, the rage that he tried to keep behind a dam all day flooding him. “You were so preoccupied finding out if you could do it, you never asked if you  _ should.  _ Nature selected them for extinction. You are a goddamn fool to think you can bring dinosaurs back in a vacuum.”

  
  


Having said everything he wanted to, Ben walked away from the table, approaching the wall of windows to watch the darkening night sky. A storm was coming. 

  
  


“How can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem in order to control it?” He heard Doctor Dameron ask.

  
  
  


“Doctor Dameron, I expected at least you to be on my side.” Luke huffed.

  
  


“Dinosaur and man have never lived together. And now here we are, thrust together.” Rey added to the conversation.

  
  


“Unbelievable. I expected some support from you, Rey. We’re the same, you and I.” 

  
  


Ben faced them, clenching his fists, vehemently disagreeing with the comparison but choosing to stay quiet.

  
  


“Luke, you’ve been my role model and professional idol since I was a child. What you’ve done here is outstanding.” Rey spoke softly.

  
  


“But?” Skywalker snarked.

  
  


Rey cleared her throat. “ _ But _ this is moving too quickly. We have no idea how they’ll interact with each other, we don’t know how they’ll survive in this mixed environment and most importantly, we don’t know how they’ll react to the public. You’re spitting in the face of evolution and I’m scared you’re underestimating its fierceness.” 

  
  


The entire room quieted down, dinner officially over.

  
  


As much as Ben wanted to follow Rey up to her room, briefly resolve their awkward run-in and pick up where they’d left off, he was too exhausted.

  
  


_ Tomorrow is another day. _

  
  


_ —— _

  
  


“I’m going to ride in the front with Doctor Kanata.” Ben announced when they were presented to the driverless vehicles shuttling them across the park. He didn’t miss the pretty pink blush that covered Rey’s tanned cheeks. 

  
  


_ Any reaction is a good reaction. _

  
  


Poe glared at them as he and Bebe climbed in the back. Ben wondered if Poe was jealous. The possibility that Rey wasn’t available had never occurred to him before last night’s dinner.

  
  


_ Shit. _

  
  
  


“Phasma is keeping an eye on the tropical storm, it might not hit.” A high-pitched voice echoed through the speaker system.

  
  


“I’m Rose and I’ll be your cruise director — hold on to your butts.”

  
  


The autonomous vehicles started their journey, all four occupants keeping their eyes glued to their windows. 

  
  


“You’re now approaching the T-Rex paddock.” The stern little voice warned as they approached the thirty-foot tall electric fence enclosure.

  
  


They all gawked, waiting for the king — or Queen, more aptly — of the Jurassic Era, pitying the goat that had been tied to a tree in wait for its fate. 

  
  


“God creates dinosaur. God destroys dinosaur. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaur.” Ben mumbled, hoping they wouldn’t have to witness an encore feeding performance.

  
  


“Dinosaur eats man. Woman inherits the earth.” Rey giggled, her eyes meeting Ben’s as he felt engulfed by her infectious upbeat energy. 

  
  


Poe was not paying attention to their conversation, his gaze laser-focused on the goat. “She wants to hunt. You can’t just suppress millions of years of instinct.” He mumbled under his breath.

  
  


Ben shifted out of his seat and tapped on the camera obnoxiously. “Eventually, will there be dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour? Yes? Hello, Uncle Luke?” 

  
  


Not surprisingly, there was no answer. Their tour continued, their car slowly making its way to the herbivores’ habitat. Ben exhaled, surprised at how tense and stressed he’d been the entire ride this far.

  
  


“I’m still not clear on chaos.” Rey’s crystalline voice distracted him, luring him back to his seat. 

  
  


“Predictability in complex systems. The _butterfly_ _effect_.” Ben spoke with enthusiasm. There was nothing he loved more than explaining Chaos Theory to pretty girls.

  
  


“Come again?” She asked, her little nose crinkling. 

  
  


Ben grinned. He took her hand in his, caressing her knuckles with his thumb just a little too long. “Okay, let’s conduct a little experiment.” He opened his water bottle and let a droplet fall on the back of Rey’s hand, his eyes following its trajectory, wishing it was his lips in its place. “See how that little drop chose to go down the back of your hand?” She nodded in response.

  
  


“Do you think if I drop another one, it will go the same way?” 

  
  


“Yah. Nothing else has changed.” She stated with conviction.

  
  


He grinned and dripped another bead of water on her knuckles. It dribbled down the side of her hand and Rey giggled.

  
  


“This is basically the essence of Chaos Theory. Outside of laboratory conditions, we can’t ensure  _ everything else  _ remains the same. Even here, tiny variations like your pulse quickening, blood vessels dilating, skin imperfections — all affect the outcome.” 

  
  


Rey arched a brow. “Skin imperfections?” she asked and Ben immediately felt himself falter, the heat of embarrassment reaching his ears and turning them hot.

  
  


“Not you! There is nothing imperfect about you, sweetheart.” He continued to hold her hand, relishing at the beaming dimpled smile she had just flashed him.

  
  


Ben felt himself smile in return. “In conclusion, all Chaos Theory explains is how tiny variations may never repeat and affect the outcome. And so, we cannot fully predict anything.” 

  
  


Rey gasped as he casually leaned in and brushed a few wisps of hair behind her ear. Ben held his breath, realizing there were only inches separating their lips. He was actually contemplating closing the distance when Dameron suddenly opened the door and leapt out of the vehicle, followed closely by Bebe.

  
  


“Poe! What the hell has gotten into you?” Rey pulled her hand out of Ben’s grip, and to his chagrin, followed her colleague.

  
  


“See I am here now by myself, talking to my fucking self.  _ That’s _ chaos.”

  
  


———

Ben sat on the hood of the vehicle, admiring his surroundings. Or he would were he  _ not  _ a mathematician. He counted every hazard he could see and calculated the probability of an impending catastrophe.

  
  


_ It’s unavoidable. _

  
  


The main contributing factor in his decision to abandon the impromptu field trip was Rey having insisted on helping the veterinary staff assess one of the herbivores that had fallen ill. The woman was a phenomenon. But the image of that beautiful being digging through insurmountable amounts of  _ shit _ was not something he wanted to see. Or think about. 

  
  


The little voice returned to the speaker in the vehicle, this time very bossy.

  
  


_ “Everyone: please return to your vehicle and get your damn butts back to the main campus. If you haven’t noticed, the storm is almost here. Thanks so much!” _

  
  


He didn’t have to wait long, spotting Poe and Bebe making their way back to the car. “No Rey?” He asked, attempting to sound casual and mask his disappointment.

  
  


“No. She’s going back to the veterinary clinic with Doctor Holdo.” Poe answered, taking a seat and lighting a cigarette.

  
  


“Pretty sure you can’t smoke here,” Ben advised.

  
  


“Oh yeah! Violating laws of nature is totally fine, just don’t you dare smoke around them!  _ That  _ would be over the line.” Poe answered sarcastically as he inhaled his toxic plumes. 

  
  


They reluctantly entered the vehicle. Bebe was allowed to sit in the driver’s seat under the condition that he would not ask them any questions about what they’d just seen, thus saving all his inquiries for Skywalker. Ben negotiated the deal, happy to get peace and quiet with the benefit of annoying the absolute fuck out of his uncle.

  
  


They trekked back to the main campus in silence. Ben was sulking about Rey’s sudden absence. He was also worried about the violent tropical storm that was rapidly approaching and the damage it would likely cause.

  
  


He faced Poe, as casually as he could manage, and asked blatantly. “By the way, Doctor Kanata — she’s not available, is she? I mean are you two —”

  
  


“What if we are?” The man spat and Ben couldn’t control his own grimace.

  
  


“Oh. Sorry, I was just curious.” Ben mumbled. He felt his breath hitch and a bubble of bitter disappointment lodge in his throat.

  
  


He didn’t get to wallow because the autonomous vehicle came to a sudden stop. 

  
  


Ben recognized the location immediately, and a shiver ran down his spine. “The T-Rex paddock.” 

  
  


“Maybe we’ll see her this time!” Bebe exclaimed but Ben and Poe did not share his enthusiasm at the prospect.

  
  


The little voice returned to the speaker. “Guys, stay in the car. We’ve had a major power disruption — possibly due to a lightning strike. We’re doing our best to bring you back online.” She sounded much less authoritative. The trepidation in her now quiet voice set off alarm bells in Ben’s mind.

  
  


“A power outage. Does that mean that the electric fence —”

  
  


He was interrupted by the booming sound of a sequoia tree crashing through the enclosure after being struck by lightning. The rain began instantly. There was no workup; sheets of precipitation poured out of the black clouds above them, making it impossible to see anything outside of their vehicle.

  
  


Another jolt of lightning instantly followed, but thanks to a clap of thunder, all of the occupants of the Jeep were already on high alert. Their breathing had fogged up the windows. Ben felt himself fall into the cold grips of claustrophobia.

  
  


Moments passed in silence, the violent raindrops hitting the vehicle the only sound.

  
  


Suddenly, the power lines above the concrete fence broke apart, whipping into the air and falling unceremoniously by the wayside. 

  
  


Above the wall, through the view distorted by steam and rain, a horrified Ben spotted a gargantuan black claw testing the integrity of the confinement. 

  
  


The queen herself appeared in all her terrible glory — a mountain of hard scales culminating in a long, heavy tail, balanced by the enormous head. From their viewpoint, the closely packed, dagger-shaped teeth mimicked a sinister grin. 

  
  


She  _ knew  _ her place in the pecking order. 

  
  


The fifty-foot tyrannosaurus Rex climbed over the wall as the paddock meant to contain the awesome beast crumbled around her.

  
  


Ben was frozen in place, attempting to regulate his jackrabbit heartbeat. 

  
  


“Boy, do I hate being right all the time.” 

  
  


Poe only nodded in agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun!!!!!! 👀  
So....what do we think?


	3. Do you think they'll have this on the tour?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Right in the thick of things now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [RebelRebel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRebel/pseuds/RebelRebel) for beta'ing this chapter :)  
And thank YOU for reading this and supporting this little story, it's been so much fun to write it!  
Today is my 35th birthday and I have to say, this past almost two years have been such a joy because of this fandom, I've made some very real and important friendships along the way and I feel so lucky and loved!

_Breathe. _

_In. _

_Out. _

Exhaling hurt. Rey had squeezed herself inside one of the reception area cabinets and shut the door. What was the intent of the person-sized cubbies in the first place? She held the door closed as best as she could, her fingers blanched and stiff from the effort.

Stress and adrenaline churned in her gut. Suddenly, the wooden panel was ripped away from her grip — and as she tried to make peace with the idea that she was out of time, her flight-or-fight instinct failed and she was filled with an eerie sense of calm. This was it.

Or, maybe not.

“Jesus, Rey!” Ben Solo crouched in front of her, his soft eyes focused on her face. She barely noticed the trail of blood dribbling in slow rivulets from a partly scabbed cut on the side of his head.

“Ben! Oh my god!” She dropped all pretense and leaped into his embrace, holding onto him tight and allowing herself to melt into him. Somehow he still managed to smell incredible. Salty beads of sweat covered his face, his neck, and chest —

“Why are you _still _shirtless?” Rey quipped, trying to hide her reaction as best as she could.

She felt his lips curl up into a smirk, but he didn’t lift his head or pull out of the warm embrace. “I thought you liked me like this.”

Rey felt the heat of her embarrassment rise to her cheeks. “You’re ridiculous.”

“What a weird time to be cagey.” He muffled his laugh into the collar of her shirt, nuzzling her.

“I’m not. I just —” and since they were more than likely not going to live through another night on Ahch-To, Rey found it an appropriate time to come clean. After all, confession was supposed to be good for the soul. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened and I just wanted you to know that I’ve never done _that _before —”

Ben interrupted, his lips muffling the words into her neck. “_That? _Do you mean being chased by genetically engineered killers or are you referring to us fucking?”

Annoyance flamed inside her. “Well, yes! I don’t know what kind of girls you’re used to but I’m really not the one-night stand type and —” She caught her breath in an attempt to keep her voice to a whisper. “I was so surprised at myself for doing — _that — _and then to see you here! I mean, you’re _here! _I just froze.”

Ben became quiet. She couldn’t see his face, she couldn’t gauge what he was thinking and it was making her nervous. Fidgety.

“I really want to kiss you, Rey.” His voice was husky, deep and filled with the same urgency she’d felt since she first laid eyes on him.

All she had to do was turn her face only a few centimeters to taste the sweetness of his plush lips. But the booming clatter around them interrupted the tender moment, tearing Rey and Ben apart and violently propelling them back into the dread of reality.

The threat was no longer abstract; the two raptors had found them and had them surrounded, effectively rendering their poorly thought-out shelter useless.

They locked hands and positioned themselves in a simple back-to-back survival stance, ready to face the predators.

———-

** _12 hours earlier _ **

The sight of the destroyed T-Rex paddock sent shivers down Rey’s back and set her teeth on edge.

She and Phasma searched through the rubble of the ruined wall, the stone wreckage left behind by the T-Rex piled high. Rey was frantic. Her blood curdled while her pulse beat almost deafeningly in her ears. Silently, she begged whatever deity was out there for a miracle. She refused to believe she and Ben had been brought together again just to die on the godforsaken island.

As Rey found herself teetering towards the abyss of her fears, she found him.

_Ben!_

She dug through the rubble with her bare hands, tossing rocks and wood to the side. He was covered in dust. Unconscious. Moments that felt endless passed while she held her breath. And then —

_Thank god! _

“He’s alive!” Rey yelled in Phasma’s general direction. The panic coursing through her was finally dimmed by the sight of Ben’s chest rising and falling. He finally opened his eyes after a few seconds and locked in on her.

“You won’t get rid of me so easily, Doctor Kanata.”

“God, you’re an ass!” she blubbered, wiping away her own tears and dirt from his face at the same time, desperation turning to relief within a split second.

“You’re very plucky given the circumstances.”

“Plucky?”

“Plucky.” Ben smiled. Somehow he managed to stay incredibly charming even buried under rubble and a downed tree.

“Doctor Solo. Where are Bebe and Doctor Dameron?” Phasma asked, her icy gaze continuously searching their surroundings for danger, shotgun action pumped and ready.

“I lost sight of them when the she-Rex closed in on me.” Phasma focused her attention on him.

“What are you saying, Ben?”

He sat up with Rey’s help and guzzled the water she offered. “Yeah so, it turns out, my uncle is an absolute fucking idiot. As predicted, the T-Rex got bored of being hand-fed and decided to do a little _a-la-carte _dining.” He paused to take another mouthful of water. Rey’s chest tightened, fear choking her in its steel grip.

“Dameron knew the T-Rex wouldn’t see us if we kept still. We tried, but the kid — I mean I don’t blame him but he was _really _loud and then he turned on the spotlight.” Rey’s imagination ran wild, her heart racing.

“I did the only thing I could think of — I found a flare, lit it, and ran the opposite way.”

“You’re an idiot.” Phasma deadpanned.

“Not exactly the word I would’ve used but I agree with her. Ben, you are lucky you weren’t killed!”

“You’re right. On both accounts actually.” He donned a rueful smile. “But I saw Dameron and the kid head down into the paddock right before Sexy-Rexy tried to squish me like a ripe blueberry.”

Rey stood and peered down the steep embankment. To her horror, she spotted the autonomous vehicle crushed at the bottom of the pit.

But no trace of Poe. No trace of Bebe.

Rey’s eyes blurred with tears as the ground beneath them shook violently.

“Do you girls not hear that? We need to get the fuck out of here, right now!” Ben’s voice was filled with urgency.

The ground continued to quake, each thud echoing into the atmosphere, proliferating the sense of dread in their rag-tag crew.

Phasma was the first to snap out of it; she jumped back into the Jeep and drove it to where a clearly alarmed Ben tried to stand.

Rey carefully appraised his injuries. “You likely have a concussion, I’m worried moving you could be risky.”

“By all means, let’s take the risk.” He managed to hobble out of the rubble and jumped directly into the backseat of the Jeep, Rey following. The ground beneath them shook again, the tremors intensifying. They paused, frozen momentarily by the scene behind them.

Trees, vegetation and all other obstruction could not withstand _her _might — the T-Rex approached with her menacing smile.

Phasma slammed the Jeep into _drive _and lurched forward, quickly putting distance between them and the relentless dinosaur.

“Fuck me she’s fast! There’s no way she tops out in the thirties! We’re at sixty miles an hour now and she’s still chasing us!” Phasma cursed out loud as she deftly swerved around obstacles on the road.

“Do you think they’ll have this on the tour? We are being chased through the jungle by a god damn T-Rex!” Ben shouted from the back seat. “Are you getting the feeling my uncle is a goddamn idiot?” Rey couldn’t disagree with him. “Literally everything he’s postulated has been utter bullshit or a crime against nature!”

“I’m guessing Thanksgivings are awkward at your house.” Phasma quipped as the T-Rex relented its pursuit and Rey laughed. She laughed with her entire being, relieved to be experiencing anything that wasn’t fear.

—-

Once they made it back to the main campus, Rey’s first order of business was finding Luke and giving him a piece of her mind. Then food.

Actually, she needed to make sure Ben was properly assessed and patched up before anything else. And _then_, food.

Ben sat atop a desk turned into an examination table, his thick legs spread wide, his sweat-drenched hair curly and wild. He looked _delicious. _

Rey was pulled out of her trance when he winced as Doctor Holdo attempted to clean the gash on his forehead. He never took his eyes off Rey. His gaze was dark, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. His intensity made her exceptionally nervous, and she fidgeted, impatiently pacing the perimeter of the small office.

She dry-swallowed when Doctor Holdo unbuttoned his shirt to check his shoulder. Rey’s eyes feasted on the vast pale expanse of his taut chest, trailing the downward path of a few beads of sweat to his abdominal muscles, utterly mesmerized.

All thoughts of food vanished as her unquenchable thirst for him overwhelmed her senses.

_My god! A semblance of a fucking grip! _

Ben didn’t have to say anything; his devious smile confirmed that she was _totally busted. _He was practically preening, casually lounging on his side as he exposed more of his naked torso.

“I need to find Poe and Bebe.” Rey babbled, suddenly turning on her heel without looking back and refusing to listen to Ben’s insistent protests. She was flustered by her total loss of control around him.

She walked quickly down the length of the narrow hallway, lit by stark fluorescent light fixtures. The air was thick and surprisingly stuffy for a newly built dwelling. It was entirely possible that the fear for her friend’s fate stifled her, tidal waves of panic threatening to drown her if she didn’t focus on what she needed to do.

Something attracted her attention — a low murmur of conversation that stopped her in her tracks. She’d been too preoccupied with her spiraling thoughts she almost missed it. But no. Slowly, she backed up, getting a closer look at the scene unfolding in the desolate dining room.

_Bloody unbelievable!_

Rey cautiously approached and stood across from Luke’s hunched over figure. Her hands shook with unexpressed rage. Watching him languish while he gorged on six different kinds of ice cream, audibly praising each bit, all while hell broke loose around them, made her furious.

A disturbing shade of green cream covered his beard and dripped onto his shirt. Rey’s chest filled with bitter disappointment as her idol, the single most important influence in her professional life, sat idly by and let apathy take the wheel. She scoffed audibly. That’s when he noticed her standing at the end of the table.

“I didn’t want to waste any of it. This is exquisite, we spared no expense. It would be a shame to leave it to ruin.” His words swirled in his open mouth, mixing with the ice cream, irking her like the sound of nails on a chalkboard.

“Ben is okay for now — thanks for asking — Doctor Holdo gave him a shot of morphine. About twenty stitches and a dislocated shoulder. But he’s fine.” Rey measured her words, keeping her fury in check.

“Next time. Next time we’ll have everything sorted out. We will not depend on machines. We will have _control_.” Luke blurted with morbid enthusiasm. His gaze focused off in the distance, somewhere far away where he was clearly unaffected by her reprimand.

“There is no _next _time, Luke! Can’t you see? You never had control! Ben was right. Phasma was right. They need to be destroyed.” She was shouting, her eyes welling with tears of frustration.

He shook his head and stood, violently bashing his clenched fists on the table.

“I can’t accept this failure.” He was delusional, tethered to his dream, staunch in his refusal to accept defeat.

Rey leaned on her hands, hovering over the table. She was never confrontational. A habitual people-pleaser, in fact. But Luke’s attitude and utter lack of care for anything than the success of his goal incensed her. “You have no choice. It’s us or them.”

—

“We are taking a calculated risk, Ms. Tico.” Luke barked in the direction of the petite brunette in the white lab coat. After what felt like a ten-round boxing match between the two scientists, the old man was cracking.

“I won’t do it.” She seemed entirely unphased by Luke’s show of authority. Rey’s ultimatum seemed to have infused Luke with courage and urged him to take action. He and Rey had barged into the JEDI systems control room where a crazed Rose Tico frantically attempted to gain some semblance of order over the park.

Phasma and Doctor Holdo ushered Ben into the space. “It’s better if we’re all together.” He sat on Rose’s desk to the woman’s obvious consternation.

“Do you mind? I’m trying to work here!” Rose scolded him, pushing the stylish black-framed glasses up the bridge of her nose. “What the hell are you wearing?” She quipped, taking in his appearance — his arm was resting in a sling but he hadn’t bothered to button his shirt, though his leather jacket was still elegantly draped over his shoulders. His eyes were piercing, scrutinizing Rey’s reaction.

There was a better than average chance she was a puddle of drool.

“What about Order 66?” Luke interrupted, his question demanding attention.

Rose was visibly shaken by the question, stunned into silence. Only for the briefest of moments. “It shuts down the _entire _system. All the power to the paddocks. The lights. The computers. The satellite phones. It’s irresponsible.”

“It’s our only chance to reboot the system.” Luke insisted.

Rose slumped back in her chair, defeated. “It’s dangerous. I am strongly cautioning you against this.”

Luke silently weighed his choices before he gave the command. “Miss Tico, execute Order 66.”

A solemn silence fell over the control room. Rose sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and sighed, the gesture broadcasting her vehement objection.

“Hold on to your butts.” She deadpanned while she typed at the speed of light on the keyboards in front of her.

After the last punctuated tap on the keyboard, all the lights went out. The red emergency lights illuminated the campus in an ominous manner. They didn’t hear a pin drop for what felt like hours, their little group of survivors standing still with bated breaths. Waiting. Hoping.

“Something is wrong.” Rose verbalized Rey’s fears.

“Just a delay.” Luke attempted to understate their predicament.

“No. It should’ve rebooted by now. This is _exactly _why I didn’t want to do this! Fiddle-fuckin-sticks!”

“What now?” Ben asked. For once, there was no snark or sarcasm in his speech, he seemed just as thrown as the rest of them.

“Someone has to turn the power back on. Manually.”

“Where?” Rey found herself inquiring.

“There’s a mechanical room just outside the inner perimeter. It holds the emergency generators and the manual power switches for all of JEDI. It’s a time-consuming, tedious endeavour. Now with the added bonus of being chased and possibly eaten by a genetically ambiguous predator.” Rose explained, plopping in a chair that screeched across the laminate floor.

Luke hung his head in his own hands. Holdo sat gingerly on the edge of a desk while Phasma paced quietly.

“I’ll do it.” Did those words just come out of her own mouth? Rey couldn’t understand the source of her bravery. Or was it stupidity? _Maybe a bit of both. _She knew one thing though — she had to keep going. Poe and Bebe depended on that.

“Me too.” Ben announced, gathering a few flashlights and CB radios. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s just an arm. I have two of them.” His smirk dimpled his cheeks.

He was brave. And just as stupid.

In that moment, Rey promised herself that if they made through, in spite of their odds, she would move mountains to get an actual first date with Doctor Solo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two more chapters! let me know what you think! I kept the story pretty close to how JP goes, in terms of plot. But - spoiler alert - nothing happens to Phasma or Rose, contrary to the movie :)


	4. Hang On To Your Butts!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to Ben's POV!  
The chapter starts with them at the present time, flash back to a little earlier and then back to present time. I hope it isn't confusing, but if it is, please let me know and I will adjust more :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [RebelRebel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRebel/pseuds/RebelRebel) for beta'ing this chapter :)  
And thank YOU for reading! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a little while, I've been writing up a storm for a Halloween fic exchange!  
I can't tell you which one is mine just yet, but check it out, you won't be disappointed!
> 
> [Reyloween](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Reyloween)

[](https://ibb.co/P5Yd9V6)

Ben Solo was not one for physical confrontation. In spite of his height and bulk, he had been efficacious avoiding it his entire life. A head-to-head tilt with a velociraptor was _not _ideal.

Standing in the JEDI campus staring into the vicious yellow eyes of the predator, he should’ve been terrified. Only, he wasn’t. The tiny hand clutching his gave him courage. The promise of more time with Rey kept him going.

And so, he grit his teeth and pulled the trigger.

—

**One hour before.**

The perimeter fence was breached. Ben knew that meant one thing – their time was running out.

“We need to hurry.” He spoke in a hush. Rey only nodded in agreement.

They could see the high voltage sign on the utilities building. Its shadow grew long, looming in the fading afternoon sun. The scent of salty fresh rain and eucalyptus permeated the air, but it did not have the customary calming effect.

“What was in those paddocks?” Ben asked, a lump of panic forming in his throat.

“The raptors,” Phasma replied solemnly.

Ben felt the weight of passing time pressing down on his shoulders. Fear tightened his muscles, the tension in his spine making him feel like a rubber band. One that would snap at any moment. It was _too_ quiet.

“We’re being hunted.” Phasma’s voice shuddered under her mask of confidence that was quickly crumbling. “They’re in the bushes. I’ve seen two of them.” She explained. She looked him right in the eye but she wasn't _seeing_ him.

“I’m going to coax the alpha. If she follows me, the others will too. You two — run!” Ben didn’t get a chance to stop her; Phasma sprinted past the collapsed chain-link fence and into the open jungle.

They made it to the terminal, searching for any sign of life on the way to the power boxes. After what felt like hours of Luke’s confusing directions, they found what they were looking for.

Through the walkie-talkie, Rose Tico’s stern little voice dished out instructions. “The buttons turn on each of the individual circuits. Push each button, one at a time.”

Rey did so, her nimble fingers moving as fast as possible. Ben held the flashlight for her, but he wasn’t watching her hands.

Her plump bottom lip was pulled between her teeth as she concentrated on her task. Ben’s eyes roamed her face, greedy to memorize all her features, in case their _Hail-Mary_ play didn’t work.

He decided then as he watched Rey work so tirelessly for their survival, her hair wild and curly, escaping in wisps from her ponytail and sticking to her face. She didn’t waver, even with the dismal odds on their side. Ben could die a happy man having had the opportunity to spend his last moments with her.

“Done!” she exclaimed, almost giddy. Their eyes met and Ben didn’t bother hiding the fact he’d been practically drooling over her.

“You’re amazing.” He gushed, stepping closer to her. Rey was looking up at him, sparkling hazel eyes peering through a thicket of dark lashes, but she didn’t recoil from his proximity.

She reached up, brushing a few sweaty strands of hair away from his face. He’d kissed her already — hell, he’d kissed, and licked and sucked every inch of this woman — but somehow, he felt _nervous _at that moment.

Rey’s pink lips were swollen from her own incisors. She parted them slowly and then softly kissed Ben’s bottom lip, causing a shiver to ripple through him.

“What’s your status, _Scavenger?” _Rose’s voice resonated through the walkie, effectively ending their moment. It was a cute name for Rey — very fitting for a paleo-botanist who was always digging, searching for buried scientific treasure.

“We’re back in business,” Rey replied. Was she talking to _him _though? Was she on the same page as him?

Before Ben had the opportunity to dissect, over-analyze and draw a conclusion on where exactly he and Rey stood, they heard it.

The vicious bellowing of an antagonistic raptor filled the enclosure. The predator made her way through the cement wall like a hot knife through butter.

He pushed Rey and they ran towards the back door.

The chain-link of the storage space tangled the raptor for a moment, giving them a glimmer of hope for escape.

“Rey! Run!” Ben yelled plaintively while he held the heavy steel door open, propping it with his body.

She snuck under his arm and Ben managed to escape just in the nick of time. The door slammed shut, but the dagger sharp teeth had been inches away from his face, giving the phrase _too close for comfort _a whole new meaning.

There was no possible way they were going to outrun her; she _wanted _to chase them down into the open space, the steel door was just a minor obstacle. They had to hide. Fast.

“Rey!” Her head turned but she didn’t slow down, nodding that she understood his plan.

They entered the Security Center at the inner gate. It was far from ideal. But the shack presented one glaring advantage and Ben’s courage to hope was restored again.

“Can you shoot?” Ben asked and handed her one of the guns, quickly checking the other, ensuring it was loaded.

“If I have to.” Rey replied with obvious reluctance. He understood it, of course. Ben was a staunch believer of solving all conflicts with negotiation. However, there were always exceptions and a face-off with natural killers qualified as such.

“I think you’ll have to by the time it’s all said and done.” Rey nodded and tentatively reached for the weapon when something startled her, coaxing a soft gasp from her lips.

“Poe! Oh my god, Poe!” She shouted and took off running. Overtop the shallow ridge, Dameron and little Bebe, looking worse for wear but still very much alive, approached, gaining speed as they got closer.

Ben’s muscles cramped, his chest burned but it wasn’t just from the effort that had gone into outrunning an apex predator. Seeing Rey embrace Dameron tightly was sobering, like diving into a frozen pond.

_Fuck._

He felt guilty about their kiss, about wanting her even though she was _clearly _taken, about being preoccupied with such a trivial concept when their lives were in the balance.

Ben was jealous. Bitterness creeped up from his rib cage, settling in a tight knot lumped in his throat. But mostly, he was pissed with himself. He had foolishly pined over this girl for half a year, stupidly hoped that maybe she would feel something for him too. And now he was going to _die _here, alone, with the image of Rey in Dameron‘s arms seared in his mind for posterity, the acrid taste of rejection burning his lips.

“Listen, I’m sorry to barge in on your quality couple time but we need to get moving.” Ben spoke with more ire than was warranted, his emotions bubbling over.

Rey guffawed, her expression filled with amusement. “Couple? Whatever gave you that idea?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Ben deadpanned as his head swiveled, his glare landing on Dameron, accusatory.

“I may have suggested it.” Poe gave her a sly, almost furtive look. Ben watched the exchange, too overwhelmed by the range of emotions coursing through him.

“Poe!” Rey chided and then paused, her eyes meeting Ben’s. “Wait.” She laughed. “This entire time, were you under the impression that us sleeping together was an affair?”

“No.” _Yes._

Ben felt the heat of embarrassment reach the tips of his ears; he’d just outed their tryst to Dameron. And even worse, to Bebe, his mother’s obvious plant.

“You two slept together?” Dameron needled, looking very much like the embodiment of smugness.

“No!” Rey squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

Ben quirked a brow, amused by her embarrassment. “No?”

“Okay, yes.” Rey sighed. Ben was satisfied he’d managed to tease the truth out of her. Although still, very much, burning with chagrin.

“We kind of had a one night stand a few months ago. Right before we took off for the Badlands.” Rey explained, busy analyzing her cuticles.

“Holy. Shit!” Dameron barked, his smile wide and bright on his face. Ben knew he’d missed something big, arrived at a wrong conclusion, and for once in his life he’d been wrong and happy about it.

“But listen,” Rey spoke and Poe ceased his cackling, “I don’t want to alarm you, there is a pack of raptors within pouncing distance. We should put this on hold until we can be sure we’re safe.”

As far as Ben was concerned, _never _would be the next time he was interested in broaching that particular subject with Dameron. At least until he had a better idea of the role the man played in Rey’s life. But she was right; they were sitting ducks standing around in the open.

“We need to get back to the control room. The power is reset; the systems _should_ be back online. Hopefully, we can send out a distress signal, get the coast guard or the military or _someone _to lift us out.” Rey reasoned and they all followed her lead.

“When we get out of here, remind me to tell you how I got blown right off the security fence,.” Dameron snarked, crouching down to let Bebe climb on his back before taking off in a run.

—

They were in a precarious situation. The rescue helicopter could only be reached via the landline, and to get the landline to work, they needed to reboot the system. The manual reset of power had not brought it back online.

“I don’t know what Hux did to this thing!” Rose exclaimed while a half-smoked cigarette hung from the corner of her mouth, her tiny hands gesticulating towards the set of monitors sitting atop a messy desk. _Is smoking a thing again? _

“What’s the problem?” Ben asked, ignoring his uncle wringing his hands nervously in a corner. _This is your fault, old man! _

“He’s locked us out. I can’t crack his code — it’s biohexacrypt, it resets every fifteen minutes. It’s almost impossible to break, nothing short of master codebreaker level hacker.” Rose sighed then put out her cigarette, her fingers furiously jabbing it into her paper cup. Suddenly, she stopped.

The thunderous sound of Jurassic man-eaters approaching bounced off the walls, magnifying their collective sense of dread.

“I know how to break the biohexacrypt, Han Solo taught me,” Bebe spoke for the first time since they’d reunited. Ben winced at the sound of his father’s name, spoken with such esteem by the child.

“It seems Han can be a father-figure to everyone except his own kid.” Ben grumbled, inadvertently revealing the biggest chip on his shoulder. Fortunately, no one noticed the slip-up, much too preoccupied with the increasingly louder sound of unavoidable death.

_Don’t do it, you idiot. You’re a mathematician who makes puns about Chaos Theory, you are not brave._

“I need to buy the little prodigy some time; those raptors will be here in a few moments.” Ben asserted, very much muting his thoughts of self-preservation.

“How are you going to do that?” The look of fearsome disapproval on Rey’s face validated his decision.

“I’m going to distract them — don’t worry, I don’t have any road flares left.” He grinned, relishing at the way his words deepened the sweet dimples in Rey’s cheeks. “Don’t worry, you’re not getting rid of me so quickly.” He added quietly, only for her to hear.

“Bebe! Work your magic kiddo. We have to get the doors to lock.” He heard Dameron speak as he rushed out. He didn’t have much of a plan; in fact, what Ben was intending to do could be charitably defined as _idiotic. _But desperate times called for desperate measures, and idiotic was as good as anything.

He made it to the gift shop, the room appearing to be one of the last spaces on the island that was entirely untouched by the bedlam. Ben indulged himself in a few moments of peace as he took in his surroundings — shelves upon shelves of merchandise ordered and neatly stocked, on display and ready for consumption. This place was a metaphor for Luke’s intentions — before safety, before scientific ethics, before all else: profit.

The looming shadow announced her arrival — not that she’d made any effort to be stealthy. The velociraptor — the alpha — appeared out of the dwindling daylight, her cruel yellow eyes searching. She knew they were inside; it was just a matter of time before she found them.

Ben acted quickly, gathering available supplies. A life-sized cardboard cut-out of the _triceratops, _meant to attract visitors inside the shop, sparked an idea. He pushed it towards the front glass pane, taking care to be as quiet as possible. He inhaled deep, counting down from three, attempting to calm his rapid pulse.

He leaped over the counter, the sharp pain radiating through his shoulder serving as a reminder of his injuries but subsiding immediately as adrenaline flooded him once again. His fingers flicked the switch on the flashlight, shining like a spotlight behind the cardboard dinosaur. Seconds passed before the raptor changed direction, unable to resist the possibility of combat with another, less violent species.

Ben could no longer distinguish between his own pulse drumming in his ears and the raptor’s approach. She was inside the enclosure, her claws and teeth viciously tearing at the replica dinosaur. Ben closed his eyes, clutching his firearm, trying to breathe silently.

“Ben, do you copy? Bebe did it, we can lock the doors.” Rey’s voice resonated through the shop, the sound distorted by static serving as the signature on his death warrant.

The raptor screeched. Then pounced, her sickle-shaped talons gripping the edge of the steel counter, the metal caving under her weight.

What happened next was a blur to him; Ben woke up buried under shelves, plush toys and other trinkets. He was scratched, bleeding from several new places on his body, his head pounded – but he was still very much alive.

He’d fired his weapon, but it wasn’t a lethal hit. At the very most he’d grazed her, but he accomplished what he set out to do — buy time for Rey. Not having been turned into dinner for the overgrown mutated flightless bird was just a bonus.

Ben rose from the pile of debris and took off running towards the Command Center when a small movement caught his eye.

His gaze tracked Rey’s lithe figure until she tucked herself under the reception desk. His brave girl, so fearless, so stupid. Almost as stupid as him. When exactly had he started to think of her as _his _girl?

Ben slunk to the floor, shuffling in an awkward crouch towards her hiding spot. When he finally got to her, she was holding on to the little cubby door with all her might.

“Ben, oh my god!” Rey squeaked in an unbearably adorable way, then plunged into his arms. To have her in his grip, relatively unharmed and happy to see _him_, made every broken bone and every scar a price worth paying.

Even with the imminent danger of the raptors, she still managed to keep her spirits high, quipping about his attire, grinning and blushing when he’d made mention of their night together.

“I really want to kiss you, Rey.” His words slipped. He meant it; more than anything he’d ever wanted — a last wish if they were about to perish on Ahch-To island.

They heard the ruckus much too late — the alpha had spotted them. Ben and Rey stood back-to-back, ready to take her on. The predator was bleeding, likely where Ben had grazed her with his shot earlier.

A second raptor bumped the storage cabinet, located directly across from where they stood. Poe and Bebe got out just in the nick of time before the carnivore crushed it in its wrath.

Poe, looking a little worse for wear but unshaken with determination, stood with Rey and Ben as they formed a protective enclosure for Bebe. The raptors surrounded them, circling them in a dizzying predatory dance, as if sizing them up, estimating the odds of victory (which were significantly tipped in the humans’ disfavor and dwindling with each passing moment).

“Fuck you!” Dameron shouted, his voice hoarse and laden with panic. Ben inhaled, aimed the gun and fired.

He missed.

But even so, the alpha raptor stilled, its eyes searching.

_Boom._

_Boom. _

_Boom. _

The floor beneath them shook. The walls tremored. The sound of broken glass and stone and bent metal filled the space in an utterly terrifying symphony.

The tyrannosaurus announced her presence with thunderous clamor. As was the case with all apex predators, she knew her rank on the food chain and did not resort to any furtive measures in her approach.

They didn’t see her enormous, frightening head yet. With one swift sweep of her tail, the raptor standing in the remnants of the crushed cabinet was thrown down on its side. A stomach-turning crunch ended its short life, extinguished with a vicious T-Rex stomp.

The alpha didn’t get a chance to escape; the T-Rex stretched her neck, seizing the raptor between her jagged fangs and shaking it like a rag doll.

The shrill sounds of the alpha’s demise sobered the group of despondent humans; Poe picked Bebe up in his arms and set off in an urgent run, followed by Rey. Close behind her Ben limped out of the JEDI campus into the twilit jungle. Rubble was all that remained of the impressive structure and inside it, the T-Rex roared and snarled her song of victory, unaware she’d inadvertently saved them from certain death.

\--

The air was clear, lighter after the storm. Ben inhaled, allowing his chest to expand and get its fill of the salty breeze. They were safe.

The roar from the rescue helicopters echoed, blanketing the island and the survivors.

“Thank goodness!” Rey exclaimed, prompting all their heads to turn in time to see Rose Tico jump out of a Jeep, followed by Luke and Phasma. Ben felt relief course through him seeing all that their companions had made it. Even Luke.

“Where were you guys?” Ben probed.

Phasma smiled — _finally_ an indication this Amazon was human — and called their attention to the back of the Jeep, where a redheaded man covered in bruises and wearing a dirty lab coat slept soundly. “We had unfinished business to tend to.”

“Who’s the fire crotch?” Dameron asked, his thick brows furrowed.

Rose glared, her hands balled into fists at her side. “This is Armitage Hux. The _asshole _who sold us out to the First Order. Well–” She paused, then after a moment of thought, she reached inside the vehicle’s window and slapped the unconscious man across the face. The redhead didn’t move. “He tried, at any rate. He’s the one who jammed the system and caused the power outage. We realized that after Bebe reset the system.”

“Doctor Tico and I went to search for him after the reset, we knew he couldn’t have gotten far away,” Luke spoke gravely. His hair was a mess, he was sweating through his shirt and for once, his seemingly permanent air of self-satisfaction was gone. “We — I — needed to know _why. _Why he did this.”

“And?” Ben questioned, his curiosity transforming into rage with every word. It was inconceivable that someone would have exposed them all to this much danger.

“And I found him.” Phasma glowered towards his motionless form. “I found him just in time, the two raptors I was tracking — or, I should say — the raptors tracking _me, _had him in their grasp. One had him backpedaling from the entry gates back into the jungle, where the other waited — clever girl!” she smiled, a look of quasi-admiration flashing over her face. “I saved him, not knowing what he’d done.”

“That’s when we crossed paths.” Rose continued. “Hux tried to run from us, he punched Luke in the stomach and tried to run away. But he’s not fast and I got to do something I’ve only dreamt about.” Her smile was sly, quickly turning into a toothy grin. “That human dumpster-fire has been making me nuts for ages with his greasy hair, smarmy comments, not to mention his smells! He’d always lorded over us that his daddy was Brendol Hux, the inventor of genetic reconditioning. But Huxie here, he’s just a greedy skeeze. We found his briefcase filled with dinosaur embryos; he was going to sell them to the First Order. The idiot kept Snoke’s business card.”

Phasma laughed – a throaty, cheerful holler. “This little firecracker ran after him and kicked him right in the ol’ crown jewels. I did the rest.” She pointed to the blooming cluster of bruises around the man’s face.

“Well done, ladies! How about we blow this popsicle stand?” Ben chuckled with admiration, thrilled that his uncle hadn’t escaped _totally _unscathed. He watched the dark army helicopters land on the ridge and felt the fatigue of the last two days finally set in.

“After careful consideration, we have decided not to endorse your park.” Poe Dameron spat as he helped Bebe scramble inside.

“I really _do_ hate being right all the time, dear uncle.” Ben snarked, then added, “Maybe you should consider riding with the ginger,” after helping Rey climb inside. She didn’t need it, but he couldn’t stop himself from cupping her firm little ass.

__

They peered out of the tiny square windows as the helicopter took off; the island looked peaceful, emerald green and wild as ever. No one would suspect that somewhere on this tiny piece of land, a Tyrannosaurus Rex reigned supreme.

Poe held onto Bebe while the child sat on his lap and slept. “I suppose there’s no way I can bribe you into not telling Finn about this.” He whispered in his headset, provoking a dimpled grin to form on Rey’s face.

“Not a chance.”

Ben’s eyes were glued to her, analyzing and cataloging all her micro expressions, all the adorable freckles dusted on the bridge of her nose. He was a fool for this girl, there was no doubt about it.

“Rey. I know this is an awkward thing to bring up in a group setting, but seeing as how we’ve avoided becoming dino-chow, I was wondering if you’d want to discuss Chaos Theory sometime.”

_Smooth._

“Wow, that was weak,” Dameron cracked up.

Ben cleared his throat, painfully aware of the blush creeping up his face towards his ears — _even more _painful than the dislocated shoulder he was beginning to feel again as his adrenaline burned away.

“I meant, after taking you out for a nice dinner or a movie? I guess we could always skip all that and pick it up where we left off.” Ben’s mind drifted to the way her soft thighs felt under the weight of his hands, how she gasped and whimpered, perched on his lap, filled with his —

“There are _children _present!” Poe admonished with sarcasm. Evidently Ben’s expression had betrayed his thoughts. Rey only giggled, interlacing her fingers with his and resting her head on his shoulder.

Rose guffawed, rolling her eyes. “Hang on to your butt, Rey!”

The entire cabin exploded with thunderous laughter, like a cheer of victory, the thrill of living to see another day resounding clearly through the fading light of the sunset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! what do you think? I know there is a lot of Jurassic Park that I didn't include - I thought about it, but most of my lovely readers what that sweet Reylo more than anything else (as do I).  
The next chapter is going to be an alternating POV of how they met and what went down that first night they've both been fretting about for so long ;)


	5. Fun with Probability

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the adventure! We get to see the events leading to Ben and Rey's first encounter and the HEA!  
*please mind the updated tags*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the ever patient and lovely [RebelRebel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelRebel/pseuds/RebelRebel) for beta'ing this chapter :)  
***NSFW warning! there is smut. If you want to skip it, read up to “Three for three.” and then pick it up at the chapter break :)

[](https://ibb.co/51pMG3d)

“Are you _ever _going to tell us how the two of you met?” Finn asked for what felt like the thousandth time. Poe huffed and rolled his eyes, but said nothing. He was more irritable than usual — an inevitable side effect of not having copious amounts of nicotine flowing through his system. He was doing it to be a good example for Bebe, who was in the process of becoming their adoptive son. For that reason, Poe never complained.

Rey and Ben had moved in together a few weeks after they returned from Ahch-To; it made perfect sense and came as no surprise to anyone as they hadn’t spent a moment apart since. Rey had initially defended the sudden cohabitation with the argument that living together meant saving money on rent – pragmatism always being a reasonable course of action. She’d also insisted on explaining that a harrowing and traumatic experience like theirs tended to bond people for life.

In contrast, Ben never bothered to justify their choices as a couple to anyone; he’d simply stated that he never wanted to part with Rey, that they were brilliant scientists with above-average IQs who did not need to explain themselves or their actions. The first — and only — time some misguided TA had been stupid enough to ask if their move had happened too soon, Ben had taken in as a personal slight, a challenge to the strength of their relationship. In response, he practically barked out “_none of your fucking business” _followed by a string of incoherent profanities. That episode had been the final push Rey needed to let go of any reservations she had about jumping in headfirst.

She loved how protective he was over their relationship, how he treasured it, like something delicate and precious. In truth, Rey loved Ben Solo more than she’d ever imagined possible and he, for his part, had never made his feelings for her a secret. Besides fighting a velociraptor, on the helicopter ride from Ahch-To he confessed — to her utter dismay — he was in love with her, had been since the day he woke up alone in his bed without her. She’d chalked it up to his concussion, but he was persistent, and Rey didn’t resist the pull to him.

How does one fight gravity?

Now, six months after the JEDI project disaster, they found themselves on a double date with Finn and Poe, catching up and laughing over drinks a few days before Christmas.

“Why does it matter how we met? You are too curious for your own good!” Rey quipped. Finn was not going to relent — he was like a dog with a bone when he needed to get to the bottom of things.

—

**One year earlier **

Rey’s head was abuzz from the Coronas she’d lost count of and she relished in the levity her inebriation had brought on. She’d been a mess of stress for the past few weeks — preparing for the Badlands dig had come at a cost: innumerable sleepless nights and endless workdays. And since it was all happening come morning, their team had unanimously decided they needed a night out before heading to Canada.

In her alcohol-induced state of bliss, she saw him. He sat at the bar, directly across from her, slowly sipping a glass of whiskey neat, black dress shirt under a black leather jacket, wildly tousled hair framing his face — Doctor Ben Solo, guest lecturer in professor Canady’s department.

“There’s Solo, living up to his name.” Finn slurred. He’d had more than his fair share of the libations — to be fair, he was a bit of a lightweight. “Can I give you a piece of friendly advice, peanut?”

“I feel like you will no matter what the response.”

“Go get ‘sum! Who knows how long we’re going to be gone and I guarantee your dating prospects are not going to improve in the Badlands.”

“You’re scandalous! And _really _fucking loud.” She chided, quickly peering around to ensure no one else was party to their less than wholesome banter.

“Just do it. Live a little. Have some more bravery juice and get your sweet ass over there. He’s been sneaking looks your way since you’ve sat down. I might be tipsy — ” He stumbled onto the stool next to her, on cue, “ — okay, I’m drunk. But I recognize that dark look when I see it. It spells L-U-T-S — lust.” He punctuated with a hiccup. Rey would make a point of reminding him about his vocabulary shortcomings on their long ride to western Canada.

“Go. Before you hurt yourself.” She admonished and Finn took his leave, walking backwards and gesticulating between his eyes and the space between them, the international gesture for _I’m watching you._

Rey laughed as she finished her drink. She peered through her lashes at the handsome man across from her. She’d seen the black-clad Doctor Solo around campus a few times before she’d worked up the nerve to inquire about him.

He’d caught her attention in the most inconvenient of ways. Having deemed _dating _as utterly impossible, she knew this crush from afar would lead to nothing. Besides, she’d conviced herself she wasn’t _actually _interested since learning about the reputation he had around campus; while Rey didn’t believe in gossip, the fact of the matter was that Doctor Solo did not lack for social engagements with the ladies.

The more time she’d spent admiring him from her perch across the bar, the more Finn’s words of advice, while slurry and pirate-eyed, resonated with her. They were the spark the bonfire her _want_ needed to ignite.

She’d set her intentions; however, while she felt particularly brave in her current state of mind, the fear of rejection was real, giving her pause. The little voice that had always whispered that she was unlovable, undesirable in all interpretations of the word — was _loud_. For a moment. And then, with a final sip of “bravery juice,” Rey stifled it into silence.

Rey spun out of the barstool and walked to where Doctor Solo sat, his eyes locking in on her as she approached.

“Come here often?” _Wow. _She immediately cringed at her ridiculous attempt at a pick-up line.

He cracked a dimpled smile. “You’re good at this.”

The little voice of her subconscious was back, shouting. Rey blanched, momentarily rooted to the spot, then turned on her heel with urgency, hoping a seismic event would manifest and the ground might swallow her whole.

“Wait! Please. I apologize. Complimentary pretzel?” He pleaded with wide eyes and a crooked smile, presenting the tiny plastic bowl to her as a peace offering. She gnawed on her bottom lip, feeling particularly skittish all of the sudden but instead of running, she readily accepted and sat down next to him.

“Once in a while.” He spoke after a few moments, continuing with an explanation. “I come here, once in a while. I like to people watch — it helps me unwind. And scotch. That helps too.”

Rey snickered and relaxed into her seat. “And what is it exactly that you _watch?” _She turned her fingers into air quotes to emphasize her incredulity that a hottie of his caliber would go to a bar to simply observe.

He grinned, the black button-down shirt straining across his chest as he adjusted in his seat, pushing himself closer. His spread thighs bracketed her knees, briefly impeding Rey’s ability to breathe.

“You’re going to judge.”

“Absolutely not.” She answered, intrigued.

“You’re going to think I’m a complete nerd.”

“Probably. But this is a campus bar, so the chances of everyone here being in that subcategory of human are pretty good.”

“It’s funny you should use that word — chances — because that ties into what I do when I people-watch.” His smile stretched across his face, the dimples in his cheeks deepening, giving him an overall look of adorable irresistibility. “I calculate their odds of doing a particular thing or another. Then I sit, I wait — sometimes, sometimes it happens right away — I wait to validate my hypothesis.”

“Yup, that’s nerdy.” Rey chortled, amused and very much aware of every minuscule touch on her body.

“See! I feel exposed. But it gets to be a lot of fun.” He barked a throaty chuckle, a hint of a snort echoing at the end. “You look suspicious. Honestly, you should try it.”

Rey felt her brows arch with suspicion. “So how does it work? Do I simply choose a random person and decide the outcome of their immediate fate?”

“I can assure you there is no such thing as random — not really. But we don’t have time for that. In the interest of simplicity, we’ll choose a person and call an event. For example, the next song we’ll hear — _country_ is what I call. You choose _yes _or _no_.”

“No,” she replied with confidence.

_Fat Bottommed Girls _rang out over the speakers and Rey squeaked. “I win!”

Ben conceded defeat and tipped back his whiskey glass. “Could be beginners’ luck. Let’s see if you’re lucky. Go again.”

“Okay, see that guy over there?” She pointed towards Finn, who at this point was fully invested in the song, belting out the chorus. “I bet you he will be pulled out of here before the song ends.”

Ben seemed unconvinced. “I don’t think so. He seems to have at least three more songs in him.”

Not even a minute passed before Finn was corralled and ushered out of the door by an annoyed Poe.

“Two for two!” she gloated, unashamed. “How about we make it a little more interesting — a little wager?” she asked, a devious plan forming in her mind. Now that she was under the clout of anonymity, left without her chaperones, Rey felt brazen.

“What do you have in mind?” Ben’s husky voice reverberated through her, his breath hot on the shell of her ear as he leaned in further, virtually eliminating any space left between their bodies.

Rey gnawed on her bottom lip again, tempered by her insecurities. His eyes were inky, his voice dripped with sweetness making his presence utterly intoxicating. For once, the little voice was silenced into submission.

“You’re taking me home tonight.” She whispered in his ear.

He answered without hesitation, his deep voice a rumble in her ears while his palms gently traced up and down her thighs, following the seams of her jeans. “Three for three.”

\--

They kissed the entire ride to his apartment. Like teenagers out past curfew, they nipped and sucked and clawed at each other until their driver dropped them off curbside. Doctor Solo likely took a hit on his Uber rating. He’d never confirmed but did say that it was very much worth it.

She didn’t know what floor his apartment was on or how they got to the front door — just a blur of needy hands and urgent mouths — but they were finally inside. He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist and moved on to removing the layers of fabric he seemed to consider extraneous. All of it.

“Are you going to give me a tour?” Rey huffed between uneven breaths.

He grinned against her parted lips, then slowly moved about his apartment, carrying her around without letting his mouth break contact with her body. “Living room, bedroom, dining room.” He then placed her on his dining room table. Having removed her sweater and camisole completely, he moved on to her jeans, which he’d skillfully unbuttoned.

“This is an awkward time to ask you this, but what’s your name?”

“Rey.” She panted as she struggled with the buttons of his shirt, finally deciding to give up all civility and tearing it open while she reached behind and unclipped her bra.

“Rey.” He said her name melodically like he was trying it out.

Before she could think about how much she enjoyed hearing it, his tongue slid over her pebbled nipple, his lips quickly pulling it into his mouth. Hot and plush, his lips lavished her breasts with more attention than she ever thought possible.

The way her body responded to his touch was positively _obscene. _She was soaked, her arousal pooling into a mess that slicked her thighs and dripped down, no doubt ruining his expensive antique table.

She clung to his forearms instinctively, her fingers digging into his skin as he lapped at her core. He was the embodiment of sin — his hair blanketed her belly as he held her spread open, his big hands steadying her quivering thighs while he licked her drenched cunt, devouring her like a starved man. He lifted his dark gaze to meet hers and Rey couldn’t look away.

His thumbs held her apart while he licked lazy strokes with the breadth of his tongue. He stopped just short of where she needed him to be, coaxing a pathetic soft whimper from her. Ben growled low, the sound reverberating through her, sending a jolt of pleasure to her spine, curling her toes. He didn’t tease her much longer, his plush lips puckered around her over-sensitive clit and he sucked the taut bundle of nerves. Rey’s head lolled back, overwhelmed from stimulation, reaching her release with a throaty groan.

If this were a movie, Ben would’ve caged her in his arms, gallantly carrying her to the bedroom where he would’ve made love to her. But they weren’t in a movie — this was a one-night stand before an extended dig and Rey wanted more of him. Immediately.

He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, even then. He didn’t make her wait long; he fucked her right there on his dining room table. Rey sensed the piece of likely-expensive furniture slowly move under her, shuffling across the room propelled by the enthusiastic hammering of his hips. He’d made her cum once more before finding his own release, like a gentleman.

They eventually made it to his bedroom, where Rey had her turn on her knees in front of him and relished as she watched him fall apart in her mouth. She also got her turn to ride him, savouring the greedy way he watched her fucking him with hooded eyes, big hands gripping her hips as she slid further and further down his thick cock.

He showered her with words of praise and peppered her skin with scorching kisses. But the darkness of the long winter night eventually subsided, and Rey had to leave.

She hadn’t left him with her phone number or any other means to get in contact. She was leaving and he was a guest lecturer and there was no reason to believe anything more would come from their tryst, exhilarating as it may have been.

As Rey tiptoed out of his apartment, she caught a glance of his face as he turned over in his sleep and briefly wondered what the odds of them ever crossing paths again were.

—

“So wait. Are you saying that our meeting that night was premeditated?” Ben asked after Rey finished telling a much more PG version of the story.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the chaostician? I thought there’s no such thing as a coincidence.” she retorted cheekily.

“Okay, but why did you tell me you two were a couple?” Ben directed his accusatory snark towards an unflinching Poe.

“Ah yeah, I just wanted to fuck with you. I mean — for fuck’s sakes man! — we were about to see actual dinosaurs and all you could do is spew out random nonsense while Rey made goo-goo eyes at you.” Poe deadpanned. “By the way, you’re incredibly lucky you’re hot, man, because that was the most heinous attempt at flirting I have ever heard. No wonder I felt compelled to jump out of the moving car.”

They laughed with their friends, the drinks flowing as they celebrated together. After Ahch-To, the four had always made a point in getting together to celebrate nothing in particular once a month: being alive and well was not something they took for granted.

Finally, after the hour turned late — _early, _more like it — Rey and Ben parted ways with Finn and a very jolly, very drunk Poe. The December air was crisp but not overly cold and Ben suggested they walk home. The streets were silent, the two of them the only people out at this time of night.

As they walked hand-in-hand, it began snowing. Large fluffy flakes quietly blanketed the twinkle-lit trees lining the sidewalks and stuck to the asphalt in patches, resembling giant cotton balls. “You know, I was thinking about your chance game we played that night — it’s not really fair. The odds are always better to get a _no._” Rey spoke quietly but exclaimed with a squeaky giggle when Ben took off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

He grinned his beautiful crooked smile she loved so much, rubbing her arms as he tried to warm her up. “Actually, sweetheart, the odds are always in favour of the person assigning the event. Particularly if they know something the other person doesn’t.” He winked. It had been six months since they moved in together and that air of roguish confidence he had about him when he was showing off still left her breathless.

“You know something I don’t know?” she asked, tipping her head back to catch a particularly plump flake on the tip of her tongue.

He grinned and kissed a spot under her jaw that sent tingles down her spine, all the way to her toes. “Reach inside my coat — the breast pocket.” His voice tumbled in her ear.

She did as he bid, suspicion swiftly turning to dismay as her fingertips traced the outline of the little velvet box. Her eyes blurred with tears as Ben cupped her face in his hands, thumbs barely brushing the apples of her cheeks.

“I like my odds, sweetheart. But the game isn’t over until it’s settled.” He waited, his big doe

eyes scanning her face for an answer.

Her face was wet from her tears, blending with fresh snow. Rey was in awe, her mind whirling from the effects of the alcohol, but more so from his proposal. In a matter of a year, he’d gone from being the unsuspecting object of her lust to her fiancé. With a shaky voice, she answered, finally.

“You win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it, that's all! Thanks for reading and happy almost TROS to us!!!  
I'm going to work on finishing my Reyloween exchange fic as well as Silver Linings before the new movie comes out. I will try super hard to finish Redwood Specters as well but that may take me into January :)  
thank you so much for the support and love, always :)


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